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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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Summary

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM)1 organizations2 in the United States, like all organizations, operate within the broader context of the nation’s history, policies, and contemporary societal norms. While the connections between STEMM organizations and the national context may not seem obvious in day-to-day activities, they are foundational to the culture and climate of educational and professional environments. Recently, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks led to a critical reckoning in the United States with its history and the impact of racialized policies. In the wake of racial justice protests, there has been a groundswell of pledges from individuals, organizations, and associations to dismantle systemic racism. However, even as countless organizations have made public statements in support of these efforts, U.S. society as a whole still lacks a concerted approach to bring about needed sustainable, structural change.

To address the questions raised by STEMM organizations seeking such change, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

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1 The committee and the sponsors agreed to include medicine in the fields to be studied, so STEM became STEMM. There are instances in this report for which there is only evidence or data related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and in those instances “STEM” is used.

2 For the purposes of this report, STEMM organizations include universities, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, and private industry.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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appointed the Committee on Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM Organizations.3 The committee was asked to:

  • review the research and evidence from lived experience on the ways in which racism (at the individual and group levels, and through conditions that create systemic barriers) impedes STEMM careers for historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups;
  • identify principles for sustainable change of organizational culture to address racism and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; these might entail discussion of the role of training, ways to motivate buy-in at all levels of the STEMM organization, and ways to stay the course in adopting a strategy and goals aimed at addressing racism and its role as a barrier to a STEMM career;
  • review and synthesize the existing research on methods to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of members of historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups pursuing STEMM careers; and identify promising policies and practices for changing existing systems and structures;
  • identify examples of effective strategies to advance antiracism in STEMM organizations, including roles for members within organizations; and
  • define a research agenda to address gaps in knowledge in the evidence base to advance antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

To address the statement of task, the National Academies appointed the committee—including experts in the science of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion;4 social and cognitive psychology; industrial and organizational psychology; sociology; and individuals with experience implementing programs in STEMM organizations.

COMMITTEE APPROACH

The challenges experienced by minoritized people in STEMM are deeply rooted in history, law, cultural and institutional practices, and interpersonal biases and assumptions—all factors that must be understood in depth to discern ways forward. At the same time, it is important to recognize

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3 The study was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Fred Kavli Endowment Fund, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Ralph J. Cicerone and Carol M. Cicerone Endowment for NAS Missions, the Rita Allen Foundation, and the Shanahan Family Charitable Foundation.

4 See pages 3 and 4 for definitions of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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that while there may be some shared experiences, these sociocultural factors differ for different minoritized groups and individuals, precluding a one-size-fits-all solution. Thus, the committee elected to focus on the challenges facing Black Americans in STEMM to demonstrate the inquiry that is required, noting the prominence of work on this topic both within the Academies and in the broader research community. This focus is in no way intended to diminish the importance of addressing challenges facing other minoritized groups, but rather meant to provide guidance for future work to address their concerns, including a call for additional research that investigates the unique racialized issues facing these groups in the research agenda. To the extent that information about Indigenous, Latine,5 Asian American, and people from other minoritized groups exists in the scientific literature, it is included as a part of the evidence-base of this report.

To address its charge to review evidence from lived experience on the ways in which racism impedes STEMM careers for historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups, the committee leveraged the expertise from the National Academies’ Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in SEM, a panel of leaders focused on increasing the representation, retention, and inclusion of Black men and Black women in science, engineering, and medicine. Structured interviews with members of the Roundtable and other members of the National Academies who identify as Black or African American critically contribute to and complement the body of published and peer-reviewed research evidence on antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEMM facing Black Americans and are intended to provide important accounts that illustrate not only the challenges these professionals faced, but also the support they found helpful in their education and career.

To carry out its work systematically, the committee agreed upon definitions that reflect the disciplinary research and committee deliberations:

  • Antiracism is an active, intentional, and dynamic set of actions that dismantle and disrupt racism, which is the combination of policies, practices, attitudes, cultures, and systems that affect individuals, institutions, and structures unequally and that confer power and privilege to certain groups over others, defined according to the social constructions of race and ethnicity (see glossary in Appendix D for additional definitions).

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5 In this report, the committee elected to use gender-neutral “Latine” rather than “Latino/s” or “Latinx.” Latine is a term “created by gender non-binary and feminist communities in Spanish-speaking countries. The objective of the term is also to remove gender from Spanish, by replacing it with the gender-neutral Spanish letter E, which can already be found in words like estudiante” (for more information, see https://elcentro.colostate.edu/about/why-latinx/#:~:text=Latine%20is%20also%20a%20gender,found%20in%20words%20like%20estudiante).

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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  • Diversity is the fair representation of different aspects of human characteristics, identities, and perspectives in the composition of a group. Diversity is contextual and benefits from specific definitions for the areas to which it applies. It can be a product of antiracist actions as well as a measure against racism.
  • Equity is an outcome from fair conditions (policies, practices, structures, cultures, and norms) in which all individuals and groups have the opportunities and resources they need for general wellbeing or success in specific metrics (such as pay or advancement). Equity is aligned with justice and may require the systemic redistribution of power, access, and resources. Equity should not be confused with equality, which is the treatment of all individuals in the same manner regardless of their starting point.
  • Inclusion is the feeling or sense of belonging in an environment, where all individuals, regardless of and with respect to their backgrounds, feel that they have a voice and the support for full participation in that environment. An inclusive culture is reinforced with equitable policies, practices, programs, and structures. In an inclusive environment, leaders take an active role in reflecting, learning, and listening to all members of the community to sustain a culture of dignity, respect, and trust.

Although the committee used these definitions to conduct its work, it recognizes that there are other ways to interpret and define these constructs and concepts and that they are fluid and likely to change over time.

THE CONTEXT, CULTURE, AND CONSEQUENCES

Today, people from minoritized groups comprise a growing part of the U.S. population, but that growth has not been reflected in increases in STEMM education and careers. The evidence shows that minoritized individuals face numerous systemic barriers, including macro-level policies and practices that have negatively impacted their accessibility, representation, and ability to thrive in STEMM careers. Racial biases at the individual and interpersonal levels also impede STEMM careers for people from minoritized groups. These biases lead to minoritized people experiencing a range of adverse consequences in STEMM environments, which generally spur one of three responses: exiting the field, implementing strategies to fit in, and/or collectively mobilizing to transform the STEMM environment. Further barriers can come in the form of gatekeepers—individuals in institutions or organizations who are in a position to permit or prevent access to resources—who play an important role in determining who is and who is not included in STEMM by defining the skills, identities, and

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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values necessary for individuals to persevere in these fields (see Chapter 6). Gatekeepers’ conscious and unconscious biases, cognitive mechanisms, and social motives may act to keep the status quo intact and inhibit efforts to promote antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. While gatekeepers may seem like unlikely change agents, the committee recognizes them as a key part of a multi-tiered strategy for change. Finally, even when diversity is increased in STEMM organizations, there can be challenges that hinder the success of minoritized individuals. Scientific research increasingly relies on individual scientists training or working together in small teams, sometimes referred to as “team science.” As calls to increase team science continue, many STEMM organizations and professionals may be motivated to provide support for diverse teams. In such circumstances, careful consideration should be given to the evidence on the dynamics of diverse teams and common challenges that can arise.

Recent research on the ways that unexamined bias or racism affect and operate in STEMM environments offers promising directions. As this report describes, the evidence calls for leadership and decisionmakers to interrogate the values that guide organizational operations and interrogate, too, how these values manifest in norms, policies, and practices, and, consequently, to make cultural and operational changes that reflect antiracist values. Values take tangible form in the ways that leaders allocate resources, such as funding, personnel, and professional development opportunities across the organization. Interrogating the underlying values in candidate selection criteria, for example, can identify where bias appears and provide opportunities for leaders, human resource directors, and other decisionmakers to implement more equitable processes.

Finally, this report emphasizes that the concepts of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion are not goals for which a simple checklist will indicate success. Rather, they are goals that reflect culture change, accomplished by the creation of environments that focus on inclusive excellence, where all participants have access to educational and professional opportunities, feel included, and have the resources to actualize their full potential. In order to do this, STEMM organizations will require ongoing leadership, resources, and commitment to ensure that these values become part of an intentionally maintained organizational culture. Leadership and managers of STEMM organizations should anticipate resistance to changes in the allocations of resources, as shifts to behavioral norms and expectations on campus and in the workplace can result in confusion and other emotional reactions. Since there is no single way to approach culture change, this report provides nine frameworks that outline different perspectives to the process (see Table S-1).

To build and sustain antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, STEMM organizations need to review, evaluate, and revise their policies

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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TABLE S-1 Examples of Culture Change Frameworks for Organizations

The Antiracist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racisms in the Workplace
Daniels, S. (2022)

Four-Factor RACE Model:

  1. Recognize the Problem: Do you understand the people most impacted by racism?
  2. Analyze the Impact: Organizational analyses should include both quantitative and qualitative data
  3. Commit to Action: Address leaders who are resistant to change
  4. Empower for Change: Assist people in feeling a part of the change
How to Promote Racial Equity in the Workplace
Livingston, R. (2020)

Five-Step Plan:

  1. Problem Awareness: Do I understand what the problem is?
  2. Root-Cause Analysis: Where does the problem come from?
  3. Empathy: Do I care about the problem and the people who are impacted?
  4. Strategy: Do I know how to correct the problem?
  5. Sacrifice: Am I willing to do so?
Elevating Equity: The Real Story of Diversity and Inclusion
Bersin, J. (2020)

Five Essential Strategies for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Excellence:

  1. Listen, hear, and act (listening to employees is a top driver of excellence)
  2. Strengthen Human Resource capabilities in all roles (DEI must permeate the talent supply chain from hiring, to promoting and helping people grow)
  3. Engage senior leader commitment (diversity training has limited value, but leadership commitment can make a big difference)
  4. Set goals and measure success
  5. Create accountability for results (drive DEI across the entire ecosystem)
Advancing Black Leaders
Roberts, L.M., et al. (2019)
  1. Move away from the business case and toward a moral one
  2. Encourage open conversations about race
  3. Revamp DEI programs—promote sustained focus on racial equity
  4. Manage career development across all life stages (from early in one’s career and throughout)
Getting Serious About Diversity: Enough Already with the Business Case
Ely, R.J., and Thomas, D.A. (2020)
  1. Promote the Learning and Effectiveness Paradigm
  2. Build talent
  3. Actively work against discrimination and subordination
  4. Embrace a wide range of styles and voices
  5. Make culture differences a resource for learning
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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Organizational Transformation Is an Emotional Journey
White, A., Smets, M., and Canwell, A. (2022)
  1. Address the unsustainable status quo
  2. Detach from the status quo
  3. Develop a purposeful vision
  4. Lead emotional transformation
  5. Include both the rational and emotional
  6. Align key performance indicators, funding, resources, and people
  7. Make transformation the new normal
AAC&U’s Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus Guide for Self-Study and Planning
AAC&U (2015)

Action steps:

  1. Know who your students are and will be
  2. Commit to frank, hard dialogues about the climate for minoritized students on your campus, with the goal of affecting a paradigm shift in language and actions
  3. Invest in culturally responsive practices that lead to the success of minoritized students
  4. Set and monitor equity goals and devote aligned resources to achieve them
  5. Develop and actively pursue a clear vision and goals for achieving high-quality learning
  6. Expect and prepare all students to produce culminating or signature work
  7. Provide support to help students develop guided plans to achieve essential learning outcomes, prepare for and complete signature work, and connect college with careers
  8. Identify high-impact practices best suited to your students and your institution’s quality framework
  9. Ensure that essential learning outcomes are addressed and high-impact practices are incorporated across all programs
  10. Make student achievement—specifically, minoritized student achievement—visible and valued
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education
McNair, T.B., et al. (2020)
  1. Start asking about why these inequities exist
  2. Start to question privilege and biases in the systems and structures that perpetuate inequities, specifically racial inequities
  3. Stop using language that masks who the students really are
  4. Stop believing that the accepted norm should be from the dominant culture’s viewpoint
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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Equity in Science: Representation, Culture, and the Dynamics of Change in Graduate Education
Posselt, J.R. (2020)

Moving Scientific Institutions Toward Equity:

  1. Acknowledge the racialized and gendered beliefs, standard practices, and power dynamics that are root causes of inequities
  2. Coordinate systemic actions in the multiple contexts and levels at which equity is created or impeded
  3. Leverage bottom-up, top-down, and inside-out forces for change
  4. Equity-minded learning and retooling for individuals and organizations, facilitated by cultural translators who span social, professional, and/or disciplinary boundaries
  5. Cultivate, expect, and reward the use of knowledge, skills, and labor that support equity as new generations are trained and enter the labor market
How Colleges Change: Understanding, Leading, and Enacting Change
Kezar, A. (2013)

Systemic institutional change is best achieved by converging bottom-up (“grass roots” initiatives) and top-down (individuals in positions of power) efforts. Three phases of culture change:

  1. Mobilize: Develop initial awareness of the need for change (data); create vision; galvanize support for change through discussion; mobilize leadership and collective action
  2. Implement: Choose strategies; pilot; change policies; select process and structures; identify professional development; evaluate results and reorient; celebrate successes; scale-up or down
  3. Institutionalize: Disseminate results; review; commit; persist

and practices to create educational and working environments that increase access for people from minoritized groups. While many interventions have focused on “fixing the person,” the committee and this report encourage a multi-tiered strategy that calls for change at the institutional and team levels. The combination of removing barriers for entry and for participation, while implementing practices that convey belonging, will allow a STEMM organization to move from broadening participation by the numbers to fostering a culture of inclusion, thriving, and success.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The committee’s conclusions and recommendations are presented in the order that they appear in the report. Readers are encouraged to refer to the individual chapters for additional context and supporting evidence. While addressing each recommendation in isolation may produce some change, the committee believes that the multi-tiered, multi-faceted approach to implementing the recommendations concurrently, as discussed throughout the report, will achieve the greatest possible impact.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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Addressing Structural Racism and Institutional Racism in STEMM

CONCLUSION 2-1: The history of systemic racism in the United States, including both written laws and policies and a culture of practices and beliefs, has harmed Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian American, and other people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups that continue to this day. This history provides critical context for understanding the unequal representation of minoritized populations in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine higher education and workplaces.

CONCLUSION 2-2: The policies, programs, and practices of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities are examples of providing intentional and culturally responsive student and faculty support. Predominantly White institutions of higher education and other science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine organizations can look to these institutions as guides and adopt these systems to increase support for people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups.

RECOMMENDATION 2-1: Federal funding agencies, private philanthropies, and other grantmaking organizations should provide increased opportunities for grants, awards, and other forms of support to increase understanding of how the policies, programs, and practices of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) support students and faculty. Notably, one issue for further investigation should be understanding the core principles of historically-based minority serving institution (MSI)-based programs and how to translate them to predominantly White institutions of higher education and other science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine organizations. In addition, predominately white institutions should seek sustainable partnerships with all MSIs (HBCUs, TCUs, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions).

Improving Population and Demographic Data

CONCLUSION 3-1: Although the representation of minoritized persons in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics higher education is increasing, the collective attainment of science and engineering degrees for Black people, Indigenous people, and Latine people does not reflect their corresponding growth in the U.S. population.

CONCLUSION 3-2: Currently-available data on students who intend to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in their undergraduate degrees leave out important information on educational outcomes including persistence, completion, and transfer to other degree programs.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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RECOMMENDATION 3-1: To understand the relative persistence of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education, data collection organizations, such as the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, should collect and share online with the public information on the demographics of students entering college planning to study STEM and their subsequent educational outcomes, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, and field of study, including:

  • How many complete a STEM degree,
  • How many switch to and complete a non-STEM degree, and
  • How many leave college without a degree.

Understanding the Lived Experience and Other “Ways of Knowing”

CONCLUSION 4-1: Oral history and other means of exploring the lived experiences of scholars from historically and systemically minoritized groups in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine offer valuable insights that supplement findings from other kinds of research. These methods should be continued and expanded.

Leveraging STEMM Professionals and Organizations

CONCLUSION 5-1: There are a few noteworthy ways to describe how people from historically and systemically minoritized groups respond to racism in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) educational and professional environments. These responses can be loosely grouped as follows: exiting the field, implementing strategies to fit in, and collectively mobilizing to transform the STEMM environment.

RECOMMENDATION 5-1: Leaders and gatekeepers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

  1. Improve numerical diversity through the admission, hiring, and inclusion of minoritized individuals at all levels of an organization:
    1. Establish information systems across institutions using common metrics for comparison purposes to collect data, track success, and identify areas of numeric disparities. Results should be transparent, up-to-date, and accurate.
    2. Hire more minoritized individuals, especially in positions where minoritized role models are often missing (e.g., leadership, mentorship), with the aim of building a critical mass.
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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    1. Determine if the institutional diversity statement reflects the reality of the institutional environment, and directly address discrepancies.
    2. Adapt curriculum, physical environment, media stories, and other content to incorporate more examples of minoritized role models.

RECOMMENDATION 5-2: Leaders and gatekeepers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

  1. Create and provide continued investment in evidence-based programs that connect minoritized individuals to ingroup peers, institutional resources, and professional networks. These investments require significant expertise in their designs and execution, and they may not yield immediate results; however, they can increase a sense of welcome and belonging through the ability to connect with individuals from similar racial and ethnic backgrounds. Types of programs may include the following types of resources:
    1. Summer bridge programs.
    2. Living-learning communities.
    3. Peer and near-peer mentorship programs.
    4. Active work to form relationships with national-level affinity societies (e.g., Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in STEM, National Society for Black Engineers, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, etc.), create local chapters, and provide opportunities for minoritized individuals to connect with them.

RECOMMENDATION 5-3: Leaders and gatekeepers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

  1. Create and provide continued investment in programs that facilitate working relationships between minoritized individuals and high-status professionals:
    1. Create and invest in mentorship programs, while hiring more minoritized faculty.
    2. Conduct additional research examining the roles of other high-status individuals such as champions and sponsors on fostering STEMM careers for minoritized individuals.
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×

RECOMMENDATION 5-4: Leaders and gatekeepers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

  1. Develop interpersonal environments and institutional norms that promote inclusion, dignity, belonging, and affirmations of kindness:
    1. Actively recognize minoritized individuals’ contributions to STEMM across multiple mediums such as portraits, media stories, awards, etc.
    2. De-center White professional norms in culture, dress, and appearance.
    3. Conduct additional research examining which features of the physical environment are most likely to promote sustainable antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEMM.
    4. Emphasize and recognize the importance of communal values in STEMM work.
    5. Redesign STEMM curriculum to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing, and actively involve Indigenous communities in the development of this process.
    6. Create cultural norms that communicate the strengths and struggles of minoritized groups.
    7. Provide access to culturally responsive mental health providers or resources with experience in addressing racial stress, trauma, and aggressions for minoritized individuals who have experienced distress and would like to pursue these options.
    8. Conduct biannual “cultural audits” to determine if the institution is fostering an environment of inclusion.

RECOMMENDATION 5-5: Leaders and gatekeepers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

  1. Use evidence-based design and implementation practices to build curriculum initiatives that increase access to discovery, including, for example, course-based research experiences.

Addressing Individual Bias and Persistent Inequality

CONCLUSION 6-1: Like other people, gatekeepers often have attitudinal biases, cognitive mechanisms, and social motives that keep the White status quo intact. Racial bias is not only more automatic, but also more ambivalent and ambiguous than most people think. That means that individuals, including gatekeepers, may not be able to monitor their own bias impartially, and may unwittingly perpetuate it.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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RECOMMENDATION 6-1: Leaders of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) organizations and directors of human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

CONCLUSION 6-2: Additional research is needed to examine the psychological impacts of perpetuating racism from the perspective of the gatekeeper in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine.

Understanding the Challenges and Leveraging the Strengths of Diverse Work Teams

CONCLUSION 7-1: For teams in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine organizations, increased numeric representation of minoritized individuals is critical; however, numeric diversity alone is an insufficient condition to yield positive team performance. Conditions that foster inclusion are also essential.

RECOMMENDATION 7-1: Gatekeepers who manage teams, including but not limited to principal investigators and heads of laboratories and research groups, should be intentional about creating the following conditions. These can support positive team performance outcomes and help reduce instances of interpersonal bias.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
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Understanding Organizations and the Role of Leadership in Developing a Culture of Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

CONCLUSION 8-1: Although standardized tests, such as the SAT, GRE, and MCAT, may not be biased as instruments, they often replicate the educational inequities endured by students from historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups, and they are not consistent predictors of academic and professional success. Reliance on standardized test scores can exacerbate racial inequities in admissions and financial aid decisions for undergraduate, graduate, and medical programs.

CONCLUSION 8-2: Racial discrimination continues to be a significant factor in hiring processes and wages. In terms of hiring, Black people are less likely to receive callbacks than less-credentialed White people. In terms of wages, across occupations Black people and Latine people have lower median weekly earnings than their White and Asian counterparts. Analyses of salary levels and start-up packages by race/ethnicity for science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine faculty are lacking but recent data suggest that White men receive higher salaries and larger start-up packages than scientists who are women or who are not White.

CONCLUSION 8-3: People from minoritized racial and ethnic groups encounter significant race-related barriers in academia that affect their career advancement and retention, including but not limited to bias in tenure and promotion, challenges to align with the dominant culture, and everyday discrimination from colleagues and students including microaggressions and tokenism.

CONCLUSION 8-4: Lack of diversity within organizations can limit access to career resources for people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups, such as mentorship, sponsorship, and professional networks, that could support their development.

RECOMMENDATION 8-1: Organizational leaders should take action to redress both individual bias and discrimination as well as organizational processes that reproduce harm and negative outcomes for people from

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×

minoritized racial and ethnic groups at critical points of access and advancement. This action should include a review of evaluation criteria and decisionmaking practices (i.e., in admissions, hiring and wage-setting, and promotion and advancement) to understand if and to what degree existing standards perpetuate underlying racial and ethnic inequities.

CONCLUSION 8-5: The process of cultural change toward antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEMM organizations can be complex, multi-layered, and uneven in its progress due to the significant demands from leadership and participants. Cultural change around antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, can involve personal reflection and challenges to individual beliefs, all of which cause discomfort.

RECOMMENDATION 8-2: Leaders, managers, and human resource departments in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine organizations should anticipate resistance to antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and investigate with rigorous empirical tools, the impacts of training on different types of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes (hiring, climate, promotion, retention, leadership roles, resource allocation).

RECOMMENDATION 8-3: Presidents, chief executive officers, and leaders of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine organizations, including those in higher education and the private sector,

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×

should use a framework (such as those listed below) to evaluate the institution’s values and norms and identify specific ways to address norms that impede diversity and promote a culture that is genuinely accessible and supportive to all. These top-level leaders should work with managers, supervisors, and other mid-level leaders who influence the local culture within organizations and can be a critical part of implementation. The evaluation should include review of:

CONCLUSION

The release of this report coincides with a growing awareness of the persistent challenges of racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion and with an increased interest in addressing these issues in STEMM. The scientific evidence and lived experiences presented in this report offer critical insights and provide the strong foundation for the committee’s conclusions and recommendations. Taken together, this information provides a clear pathway for STEMM organizations, institutions, and professionals to engage in sustainable and structural changes required to advance ADEI.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 1
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 2
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 3
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 4
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 5
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 6
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 7
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 8
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 9
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 10
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Beyond Broadening Participation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26803.
×
Page 16
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Individuals from minoritized racial and ethnic groups continue to face systemic barriers that impede their ability to access, persist, and thrive in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) higher education and workforce. Without actively dismantling policies and practices that disadvantage people from minoritized groups, STEMM organizations stand to lose much needed talent and innovation as well as the ideas that come from having a diverse workforce.

A new report from the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences examines the backdrop of systemic racism in the United States that has harmed and continues to harm people from minoritized groups, which is critical for understanding the unequal representation in STEMM. The report outlines actions that top leaders and gatekeepers in STEMM organizations, such as presidents and chief executive officers, can take to foster a culture and climate of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion that is genuinely accessible and supportive to all.

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